Story and photos by David F. Ashton
What should have been a pleasant late afternoon Easter drive turned upsetting in an instant, on April 8, at about 6:00 p.m., along SE 82nd Avenue near SE Malden Street.

“It looked the black car was trying get around a slow truck in the middle lane,” said witness Ashlee Montgomery. “But I guess he didn’t see the bus, stopped in the outside lane.”

Her account explained what we were seeing: A black Ford ZX3 coupe, pointed southbound on SE 82nd Avenue, and embedded in the back of stopped TriMet bus #2291.

First the passenger, and later the driver of the black Ford, were prepared for medical transport, and then whisked by AMR ambulance to a nearby hospital.

It appears as if the front end of this Ford exploded on impact – inflating the vehicle’s airbags.

While police and medical personnel were on-scene, yet another fender-bender crash occurred. “It was a ‘lookie-Lou’ driver, gawking at this wreck, that caused the other one,” a Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct sergeant wryly commented.

It’s not known if any passengers on the bus were injured in the collision, but damage to the bus appeared to be minimal, despite the heavy damage to the impacting car.

Medics prepare to transport another victim from the S.E. 92nd car-bus crash.

“No reports are yet available on the crash,” reported PPB Public Information Officer Sgt. Peter Simpson to our request for more information. “Reading the dispatch information, nothing here indicates whether it was a DUII, if there were serious injuries, or any other details.” That generally indicates that there weren’t significant injuries, and no driver impairment.